


When Stars Touch

by BlazinFae



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Spoilers for season 3 and probably future seasons when they and I both get around to it, The rating might be changed to mature later hehe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:21:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22924006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlazinFae/pseuds/BlazinFae
Summary: The legend of Aaravos and Orion is a tale of shaky beginnings, love, betrayal, and conquest. It was passed down from generation to generation and is now (very slowly) being written down for the first time in history.Aaravos and Orion are two of the most powerful mages Xadia has ever seen. "Of course she is," Aaravos nearly scoffed. "It was I who taught her everything she knows.""Oh yes, I remember Aaravos," Orion laughed while looking away. She did not elaborate.
Relationships: Aaravos/Original Character, Aaravos/Viren (The Dragon Prince), Aditi/Original Character
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	1. The meeting of Stars

**Author's Note:**

> The first couple of chapters won't have much to do with the series itself but later on it might contain slight spoilers.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaravos got a headstart at magic compared to Orion, but Orion found the cheatcodes.

Aaravos was born on a clear night in the middle of November. It was so clear that it looked as if the stars themselves wanted to get a better look at the rare occurrence of the birth of one of their own.  
He was a fairly happy child. His parents taught him the basic control he needed to advance his magic. By the time they left this world for the next, Aaravos was already a powerful mage. He would still spend the next two centuries mastering all there was to master of the six Primal Sources and the next four, he would spend all his waking hours on researching magic in the Crystal Tower he had built around himself.

He spent no time at all trying, as many other Elves did, to find his secret name, the name of his soul. Or finding the one person who knew it. If finding soul recognised love was so important to everyone, Aaravos thought, his intended would come to him. He certainly wasn't going to look for them.

That is why he didn't know what he felt when the one that was chosen by the stars for him was born. She, unlike him, was not born on a clear night. It did not weaken her connection to the Star Arcanum, but it did make it unstable. Within a week of her birth, she already warped reality around her. Not on purpose of course, she was only a week old. But it was dangerous. So dangerous in fact, that in an attempt to strengthen and stabilise her connection, her father, in a desperate attempt to help his baby, gave his life and his magic to her.  
To the shock of her now grief-stricken mother, it had done nothing to help her connection. It only made her more powerful. Her mother, quickly worn to her last resort, took her baby to a place someone would find her and gave her life as well.  
This time the child's connection did stabilise, but not fully. Her mother's power also came to rest in her.  
There were none alive who realised, but this Startouch baby had the power of not one but three Startouch mages.  
The old farmer who found an abandoned crying child by the road certainly did not know. His name was Yashar. He took her in and raised her as his own. The daughter he never had. The child he always wanted.  
He named her Orion, after the constellation that was spread across her cheek. It wasn't a very creative name, but he didn't want to give her something Elvish in fear of it not being a name and he didn't want to give her something too standard either.  
During Orion's early youth, it was clear to Yashar that she was very powerful in her magic. He had no way of knowing just how powerful she was, but that she couldn't always control it was pretty clear. What was also clear to him was that he couldn't teach her. He was human. Magic was not for him to understand. Especially Star Magic. He tried the best he could, but his own understanding of Primal Magic did not reach beyond knowing there are six different kinds and that Orion was born with some sort of connection to a specific one.  
You had Day, Night, Water, Land, Wind and Stars. Orion had a connection to the Stars. He could not tell her more about it than that because there was not more he knew. Instead he had the village shaman, Lupita, teach her about herbal magic and potions. That way she could still do magic and she wasn't hindered by Yashar's lack of knowledge. 

Lupita told Yashar about a Star mage that lived in a tower not far from the village. Only a few days' travelling away. She told him that he looked similar to Orion and that he seemed be known as a master of magic among the Elves. She wasn't sure if he taught, but Yashar thought it worth a shot.  
He decided to write the mage a letter.

Esteemed mage of the crystal tower.

You do not know who I am, and I don't expect you to. My name is Yashar, and I am a human farmer from a village not too far from your residence.  
I write to you because of my daughter. She was born with some sort of connection to magic. I suspect the same connection you yourself were born with, though I have no way of knowing for sure. She is an apprentice to the shaman of our village and learning herbal magic, but I do not think it will be enough for her.  
I do not understand magic but I will try to describe the things that happen because of her.  
The weather around the harvest festivals is always perfect for the time of year, my crops grow excessively big and the water in this part of the Osmu river is much clearer than it should be.

This doesn't appear to be star magic to me but I am certain that she does it. There are some things that I, as someone who has no idea what magic entails, would call star magic.  
She can predict the future in a way. She sees the bigger picture better than most do and acts accordingly. Sometimes she enters a trance and says things that I don't understand in a voice that is not hers. Her eyes start glowing and she usually feels very tired after. She doesn't usually remember what she said after.

She can't always control her magic. I've heard that can be dangerous if left untrained. I have nothing but an old man's gratitude and strangely large fruit to give you in return, but I'm afraid I must ask of you to teach her. She doesn't need to come back a master, but she does need to be able to control it. 

Forever hopeful,  
Yashar of the River Osmu Village.

He decided not to post it yet. Orion's magic had never proven to be dangerous yet. The most frightening thing that had ever happened was that Orion had gotten startled by something and as a result set the produce a month ahead of schedule.  
Something far worse than an early harvest festival was about to happen though.

A new man moved into town. His name was Malpi and he was all the town talked about for weeks. He was good looking, charming and funny. Men and women alike practically threw either themselves or their sons and daughters at him. The only one who seemed disinterested was Orion. Yashar liked Malpi too, but he had heard of the Elven practise called recognition. He wasn't sure how it worked, but judging by Orion's complete lack of interest in Malpi, Yashar guessed that he wasn't the one for Orion. It probably only happened between Elves.  
Malpi saw Orion's indifference as a challenge. Of all the hearts in the village he could have, he wanted to win Orion's. Yashar had warned him that Orion was only fifteen and if he caught wind of anything, Malpi best sleep with one eye open.  
That didn't phase him. Yashar was too old to be a threat in his eyes and Orion was very beautiful. Her skin was like a clear winter night sky. Her eyes were pools of golden starlight. Her hair was like clouds at sunset. All these poetic descriptions of her did not all seem to woo Orion though.  
Elves always had been Malpi's type, but he'd never seen anything like Orion before. He'd heard stories of course, but they failed to describe the true beauty of a Startouch elf. 

One night, when Malpi had admittedly had a few tankards too many to drink, he encountered the young maiden on his way home. He cornered her and held her close to him. Her skin was warm and her hair was soft. She smelled of lavender and thyme.  
Orion was scared. More than that, she was terrified. She didn't want to be touched like this, but she was completely frozen in fear. There was nothing she could do to fight him off.  
Nothing she could consciously do, anyway.  
Her magic lashed out more powerfully and more potently than it ever had before. It killed Malpi without a struggle or a sound. When Orion came crying to Yashar about it, he immediately posted the letter, with an addition in post scriptorium.

PS.  
An incident has occurred and it is no longer safe for her to stay here, could she stay with you, in your tower? Away from the people who wish to harm her? Would you be able to protect her if they came for her? 

When Aaravos got the letter, he was very intrigued. A human born in connection to a primal source? That was unheard of. Not even in fairy tales were humans ever born in with an Arcanum, not to mention the Star Arcanum. This daughter of Yashar of River Osmu Village would at the very least make a fascinating study subject. 

He wrote back immediately, expressing his interest in teaching Orion and that under his guidance, she would come back a master. He was curious about what the incident Yashar had so hastily written about entailed, but he didn't press. He just wrote that the girl could stay with him.

Orion had been kept in the house for a while now. She was not allowed to go outside because Yashar feared that the other villagers might give her the same treatment she gave Malpi. The only people who didn't blame her for what had happened to him were Yashar and Lupita.  
The stars dotting her body glowed more dimly than they ever had and her demeanour wasn't any more cheerful.

"For how long will I have to continue hiding myself, father?" Orion asked one night at dinner.  
Yashar tried to look encouraging and reached out to touch Orion, but before he made contact, she quickly pulled her hand away.  
"I don't know, Starlight. At least until the tower mage sends a letter back."  
Orion turned her golden eyes to Yashar's.  
"What if he doesn't? What if he thinks himself above even opening a letter written by a human?" She sounded worried. She was scared for her own safety. She hadn't slept in days and barely ate anymore. It broke Yashar's heart to see Orion so broken over something she had so little control over.  
"He will, because if he doesn't, I've got plenty of sharp tools to make him reconsider."  
Orion made a sound that was between a sniffle and a laugh. Yashar smiled at her. He may not be her real father, but he did every bit his best to make it seem like he was. He told bad jokes, he sneezed as loud as he could, he tried to keep boys away from her and most of all, he loved her to bits.  
A knock came at the door. Orion disappeared deeper into her hood as Yashar went to answer it. There was nobody there. Until an impatient sound took his attention down to his feet, where a purple glowing raven stood with a letter in its claws. It flew up to Yashar and pressed the letter in his hand before it flew off again. 

"I think this is it," Yashar said as he closed the door. He handed the letter to Orion who quickly began to read it.  
"He agreed to teach me! I can move in with him in his tower!" Orion sounded simply ecstatic. She would finally learn to control her power and not to be afraid of herself. Yashar couldn't be happier for her.  
"Well, what are you waiting for? Get packing!" Yashar said, infected by Orion's bright happiness. The stars on her face and arms always shone bright and warm when she was happy. They were beaming with a warm glow now.  
Yashar helped Orion gather her things while he went to get Lupita so she could say goodbye to her old teacher. Lupita may not have helped her much on the Star Magic part, but she took Orion's mind off things when she was stressed and just needed to do something that felt rewarding. Yashar had never had children of his own, but he had helped take care of his younger siblings. Yashar wasn't so sure if it was his influence, or just that all children were alike, no matter what they looked like, but he found that giving them things to do that had positive effects on their development and near immediate results were the most helpful if they felt unhappy. 

"You're going to learn real magic now, Nightlight." Lupita always called Orion that. She didn't particularly like the nickname, but she didn't dislike it enough to ask her old teacher to stop calling her that. Besides, she saw the humour of it. She gave off light on her own. She didn't need candles to help her see what she was doing when she was studying another late night.  
"Don't say it like that, potions and balms are real magic too. I don't doubt Aaravos knows about plant-based magic." Orion suddenly seemed to realise something and she ran back inside the house. Yashar had just finished putting all of her stuff on their wagon.  
"Where are you off to? We need to leave soon if we want to reach the Crystal Tower within a week. The roads will be packed with festival goers on my way back."  
"Just grabbing the last things! I'll be right there!" came Orion's voice from the house. She came soon thereafter with her small cauldron, glass bottles and herbology tomes and notes. She put them in the cart before taking her seat next to Yashar. "Goodbye, Lupita. Thank you for your help," she thanked her old mentor.  
"No, thank you child, for your attention." 

With that Yashar and Orion were off in the direction of the Crystal Tower were Aaravos resided. Orion did not know much about him. Just that he was a powerful mage that didn't seem to see Humans as lessers, and that he was the same race of Elf she was. She didn't know the name for that, but she did know it had to do with the stars. Orion was very excited to soon be learning the magic she was born for.  
Their week-long journey was swift and effortless. Orion, for once in her adolescent life, did not seem to be afraid or stressed. She was enjoying the wind in her face and the sounds and smells of the forest. Yashar hadn't seen Orion so relaxed, happy even, in a long time. It made him tear up slightly, but he made sure Orion didn't see. 

In the early evening some five odd days later, Yashar stopped the cart in front of an iridescent blueish tower. Orion's excitement seemed ready to burst out of her violently, but most of all she looked very nervous. She put her hood up and helped Yashar off the wagon. He walked up to the door by himself but before he could knock the door was opened and the mage of the tower stood in the doorway.  
He looked like her, on a surface level, though her skin was a darker shade of purple and she had more stars scattered and arranged across her body. He also wasn't like her at all. Even though he hadn't muttered a word yet, he seemed much more refined than Orion. He held his hands behind his straight back and held his chin high, though it didn't seem like he was looking at Orion and Yashar down his nose. His expression was hard to read. Orion tried to copy him subtly by straightening her back and folding her hands in front of her.

"How may I serve you?" Ah, so a deep voice was part of being Elf. At least part of being Star Elf. Though the tower mage's voice was a lot deeper than Orion's. It flowed more naturally, like he knew what he was doing. He'd better, because if he was a fraud where else would Orion learn magic?  
"A fine evening to you, my lord-" Yashar began, but he was interrupted by the mage.  
"Please, sir. I am no king or nobleman, I am a simple mage." 

Simple, huh? Orion thought as she tried to look past him into the tower. Was all Elven architecture like this? Everything seemed to be made of a crystal smoother than melting river ice.

"My name is Aaravos, and you must be Yashar."  
"That's right, my lord- uh sir Aaravos. This is my daughter I wrote you about." Yashar indicated the young hooded lady. It seemed almost impossible to Aaravos that this man, as old as he was, for a human, would still have children that depend on him. He followed Yashar's gesture and rested his eyes on his daughter.  
As she took off her hood, he noticed something. Her hands were a light purple with stars glittering on them. When he saw her face, he saw something stare back that he had only seen in reflections for a very long time.

Another Startouch Elf.

A Startouch Elf without a stable connection to the Star Arcanum? That was unheard of, a bad joke, and quite pathetic.  
"This is unexpected. I was not told one of my own kind needed help with her magic." The way he said 'one of my own kind' made sure Orion got that message.

Aaravos had expected to be let down to some degree, but not this much. He had expected to teach a girl with a weak Arcane link and a little Elf blood running within her. Not a full Elf of the most powerful kind with no established link to speak of.

"I am sorry, I cannot honour an agreement made on incomplete information." Yashar knew Aaravos wasn't sorry at all. It was also his own fault for not telling him precisely who Orion was. Telling someone that she was his daughter and having them figure out the rest on their own usually worked positively.  
"I understand, we will be going then," Yashar said before he turned around and put his hand on Orion's shoulder.

"No," said Orion. She seemed shocked and unsure how to react.  
Yashar tried to comfort his daughter. "Orion, dear, I didn't give Aaravos full information. We can't expect him to honour his word."  
"No. He agreed to teach me. He has to!"  
"Listen to your father, child, and learn from his mistakes."  
"No! If you don't teach me, they'll- they'll..." Orion fell silent and remembered her place. She held respect for her elders, but the despair inside her overcame that respect.

Orion's stars started to glow very intensely. Her eyes glowed white and her feet were lifted off the ground. When she spoke, she did with a thousand voices combined into one. "You SHALL teach this child. It is the path Destiny has chosen for you."  
Despite his initial intimidation, Aaravos still had a reply ready. "Destiny is a book you write yourself."  
A few hundred of the thousand voices scoffed. Then a single one spoke. It was not Orion. "Your destiny will be your own, IF you decide to teach Orion as if you were preparing her to be the Dragon Queen." At this statement, Orion's light dimmed and she fell down. Yashar rushed to her side to help her up. She didn't seem to realise something very unusual had just occurred.

"What say you to that, master Aaravos?" Yashar asked. "Do you dare throw your fate away because Orion is not by blood the daughter of a farmer?"  
"On second thought, if the Fates are able to speak through her, maybe she is worthy of my time after all." He needn't have worded it so rudely, but at least he had agreed to honour his word.


	2. Learning to fly.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Orion moves into Aaravos's tower, where shediscovers that that he is just as new at teaching as she is at magic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings...
> 
> It has been a while and I don't feel like thinking up an excuse, see you in eight months.

Aaravos drew a rune in the air and from behind Orion and Yashar, her luggage came floating towards them. He didn't look too impressed by it himself but he was mildly amused at how excited Orion looked now that she had seen real magic. She was still a bit wobbly from her channelling of the Fates, though she didn't seem to realise.  
"Say your goodbyes to your father. The next time you will see him will be as a master," said Aaravos when Orion's stuff was inside.  
"He won't be allowed to visit?"  
"He is a farmer, is he not? Without you to help him, he will have little time to visit you. And you will have little time to welcome visitors."  
Orion ran to her father and enveloped him in her arms.  
"Goodbye, dad. I'll make you proud," she said. Her stars were shining brightly, but it was not just overpowering excitement she felt. She didn't know when she would get to see her father again, so there was sadness in there too.  
"I know, baby girl. I know." Yashar was doing his best not to cry, if only so he seemed strong for Orion. When he felt her slightly sobbing, he couldn't hold his own tears for much longer. They silently rolled down his face as he worked his fingers through Orion's hair. He tried to calm her by humming the lullaby he used to sing to her and while it might have worked in her favour, Orion's entire childhood played before Yashar's eyes.  
"I remember the day I found you," he whispered into her ear. "You fit into my arms perfectly." He chuckled wistfully. "When you smiled at me, I broke apart."  
Orion leaned back and pressed her forehead against her father's. She smiled at him through her quiet sobs. "I still fit in your arms," she said. Yashar held her as close as he possibly could. He didn't know when he would see her again and, in fact, if he would see her again. He had full confidence in both Aaravos's competence as a teacher and Orion's competence as a mage, but he felt old. He knew he would live another decade, easily. But he did not know if that was enough. He did not know how long mastery of magic took, nor if Aaravos knew to make haste.

They stayed in each other's arms for a while longer while Aaravos leaned against the door post and eventually went back inside when he felt that it was taking too long. Yashar noticed this but Orion didn't. He held Orion in front of him. "Look at you," he said fondly. "You're going to be a mage."  
Orion still had tears running down her face, but her freckles flickered with excitement. "I know! awesome, right?"  
Yashar cupped her glowing cheeks in his hands. "Mustn't keep your master waiting now."  
Orion grew a little brighter in realisation as she let go of Yashar and rushed to the tower. She stood in the doorway she turned back and looked at Yashar and smiled. "I love you, dad," she said. Yashar smiled back at her.  
"I love you too, baby girl." At that, Orion's smile widened and she turned back to go inside. The door closed behind her as if by invisible hands and Yashar made his way back to his wagon. He gave one last look at the tower before he spurred the horse forward on their way back to the village.

Orion looked around the tower in awe. Bookshelves were hewn into the blue stone of the walls and reached up to the ceiling. The windows had intricate designs unlike any Orion had seen before. There were desks and chairs made of silver, large hanging plants with flowers made of the night sky, and a small pile of Orion's belongings at the foot of the staircase. A large suitcase with Orion's clothing and books next to a cauldron with overstuffed notebooks and empty bottles. It all seemed very out of place.  
"When you're finished looking around the hall, perhaps you could come upstairs with your luggage and I could show you to your quarters," came Aaravos's voice from atop the stairs. His tone suggested that she should stop gawking at ordinary stuff and come up already. Orion hurried over to the staircase and saw that the voice could not have come from as close as she heard it. The staircase was huge. Allegedly. After a few yards it bent around the wall in a circular motion. On the outside wall there were tall windows of equally intricate design as the windows of the previous room. On the other side hung plants and candles at equal lengths. Orion realised that every window showed a different landscape and, upon closer inspection, did not appear to be paintings.  
"Do hurry," came Aaravos voice again. It came from above her. Orion saw Aaravos leaning over the railing on the next floor up, which was quite a way, Orion realised. The stairs took their sweet time getting anywhere.

She took the handle of her heavy cauldron over her shoulder and started pulling at her suitcase. When she was back in Aaravos line of sight he suggested she start levitating her stuff because her quarters were on the top floor. "I don't know how!" Orion protested.  
"I've already shown you," Aaravos countered.  
"Well forgive me if I hadn't realised my training had started already." Orion wondered if he would always be this difficult. Aaravos disappeared from the railing and rounded the corner not a second later, which should definitely not be possible, Orion thought as the sound of his heels filled the stairwell. Aaravos looked mildly displeased when he reached Orion.  
"Watch closely," he told her. He stood with one hand behind his back and held his other hand out in front of his chest. He held his hand in a loose fist with his thumb, middle and index finger pointing outwards but pressed against each other. Aaravos's eyes and freckles began to glow a white light. As did the star shaped sign on his chest that Orion just now realised was more bared than covered. Aaravos began to draw into the air. Orion copied his every movement from where she stood just far enough away that they could stretch out their arms at each other without touching. The only difference was that Orion could see what Aaravos was doing, but she herself seemed to just be combing the air.  
Aaravos drew a circle with a vertical line through the centre that stuck out on the top. There he drew a smaller circle and two smaller vertical lines in the first one that did not touch its sides. He made sure to pause a few extra seconds so that Orion could trace the whole things an extra time before he told her to duck.  
Instead of that, she stepped aside.  
"Ferri in aerem," Aaravos said. Orion had no idea what it meant, but it seemed to do the trick as Aaravos's lights dimmed and the suitcase started levitating a few feet off the ground. He motioned with his arm which sent the suitcase floating up the stairs.  
"Now you try it."  
"Uh... okay." Orion set her cauldron down and took a few steps up the stairs before she turned around and stretched out her arm. Aaravos walked up to her and immediately started correcting her. He bent her elbow and showed her how hold her hand. He moved her feet further apart so she stood sturdier and straightened her shoulders. He then went to stand in front of her. He stood a couple of steps lower so he didn't block her movement. They were at eye level now. Orion started drawing the circle but no glowing lines were left behind by her hand. Aaravos moved her hand back and she tried again. Again, nothing happened.  
"I was afraid of that," remarked Aaravos, though the intention behind it was unclear to Orion. She found his words difficult to read. His expression seemed pensive. "Try it again." So, she did, with the same lack of results. Orion started to doubt herself. Was she really meant for this?  
"Not to worry," said Aaravos, as if he heard what she thought. "Levitation spells have little to do with your Star Arcanum."  
"What kind of magic is it then?" Orion asked. From the look Aaravos gave her, Orion gathered that it spoke for itself. With his answer, she realised that he was right. "The Sky Arcanum."  
"Right."  
"Try again."  
"But, isn't my connection to the Star Arcanum?" The connection itself was actually the Arcanum, connected to the Primal Source, but Aaravos did not feel like correcting her yet.  
"Do you want to carry this cauldron up the stairs by yourself?"  
"Not if I don't have to, no."  
"Then try again."  
Orion did as he said and held out her hand. Aaravos touched her middle and index fingers with his. "Don't lose me," he ordered. Orion nodded and Aaravos began to glow. The spots on Orion's hand and lower arm began to glow too. Aaravos guided Orion through the movement and this time there did come a glowing rune. When the rune was exactly as Aaravos's earlier one had been, Aaravos stepped aside as Orion held her hand where it was. Aaravos held his hand on Orion's shoulder and the spots on that arm lit up.  
"Now say the spell," he instructed.  
"Ferri in aerem?" The rune faded and slowly, the cauldron began to lift off the ground. The glass bottles and notebooks inside rattled against each other as their container shakily floated a foot or two above the ground. Now all of Orion's stars gave a bright surge of excitement. She was doing magic! And it was working! Aaravos shielded his eyes with his free hand. He felt a small and involuntary tug at the corner of his mouth.  
"And now calmly guide it up the stairs like I just did."  
Orion moved her hand back over her shoulder and the cauldron flew after it. Aaravos had to quickly grab it with his own magic to prevent it flying through the window. He held his grimace for a second before he sent the cauldron up. "Orion, define 'calmly'?" Aaravos asked unimpressedly.  
"The... opposite of what I did?" Orion tried, ashamed of herself but only mildly.  
"Fair enough," said Aaravos, as he began to walk up the stairs. "Meet me at the top," he suggested as he rounded the bend. Orion ran after him but when she reached where he was supposed to be, he was gone.

Orion was used to a little manual labour, she thought as she climbed the stairs. But not this. This was ridiculous. Why do mages live in towers anyway? Why not bungalows? Why not their dad's farms? Was it because they needed the exercise of a few hundred stairs? Evidently not, as Aaravos cheated his way up them.  
When she finally reached the top, Aaravos was nowhere to be seen. Orion's stuff stood at the door in the middle of the wall so she assumed that was her room. She took a moment to catch her breath and then opened the door, looked inside, and was immediately dumbfounded. Was all of this really hers? She stepped inside and looked around. The first thing she noticed is that here, like in the rest of the tower as far as she had seen, was a large variety of plants. There was also a large desk in the middle of the room that seemed to come out of the floor. It was the same colour and material. There were a few books stacked on it already. Next to it stood a silver-coloured reed basket with rolls of paper. On the desk itself stood an inkwell and a quill. The chair was made of a similar material to the desk, only it stood free. It was much lighter and more comfortable than it seemed, Orion noted as she tried it out. Behind her was a small fireplace that was lit. On the mantle stood a few plants but nothing much. On both sides next to the fireplace were windows that seamlessly blended into the walls. The view was lovely. This one didn't seem to be a magic trick. Just the forest from above. Against the wall stood a large closet. When Orion opened it, she saw that there were already clothes inside that looked similar to what Aaravos was wearing. She tried one on and found it to be miraculously in her size. She looked into the mirror next to the closet and found that the dark purple colour worked very well with her skin colour. Much better than the dress she had been wearing anyway. This model was much more modest than what Aaravos was wearing, but that wasn't very hard. These robes still showed off that Orion was in fact quite sparkly.  
Orion laid eyes on the bed and took off her shoes to immediately test it out. It seemed it be made out of a piece of wall that was turned ninety degrees right from where it had been delicately carved out. The wall around the bed was carved into shelves that were nearly empty except for a few books and plants. The bed itself was much softer than Orion expected and she immediately spread out as far as she could. This was nice. As she went to get her stuff, she realised that Aaravos was supposed to be waiting for her. She pushed her stuff around the corner next to the door and walked out to find Aaravos, who stood waiting at the top of the stairs, as he had said.  
"I see you've found your room already," noted Aaravos, with a hint amusement.  
"It's fantastic!" answered Orion.  
"If you would follow me," Aaravos said as he led the way back into Orion's room.  
"I see you've made yourself comfortable already," he noticed. "Through that door is the balcony, and that one is the bathroom-"  
"The whatroom?" Orion interrupted him in disbelief.  
"The bathroom." Aaravos was somewhat confused at Orion's amazement. Surely the balcony would be more impressive?  
"You mean you have running water?" And all the way up here?  
"Naturally..."  
Orion briskly walked to the door Aaravos had said was the bathroom. She went inside and saw a large bath carved into the centre of the room. There was also a sink with a mirror and a toilet behind a partition.  
If Orion was this easily impressed, Aaravos was curious about how she would react to the rest of the tower. He turned on the tap in the sink and watched bemused as Orion held her hand into the stream.  
"You can combine the knobs to make warm water. The bath works similarly." Orion turned off the tap and turned to Aaravos.  
"I want to see the rest of the tower," she said with an excited glint in her eyes. So Aaravos led her around. The next floor down was the large kitchen and eating area, which doubled as living room. Then four floors worth of a very impressive library, that, Orion thought, would probably double as living room for her. Next were Aaravos's own quarters, which Orion didn't get to see. Then there was a workshop with all kinds of magical artefacts and tools lying about. Then a guest room that was outfitted with a small kitchen of its own, as if Aaravos didn't want to guests to go too far up. Or just didn't want to dine with them.  
Next was the parlour where Orion had first walked in. Then Aaravos showed her the courtyard and Orion realized she was not wearing shoes. They went past the alchemy garden, which had a small tower of its own which was mostly storage and an alchemy lab. So, Aaravos did know about plant-based magic. There was also the food garden but a few farmers from a close by Elven village dropped by to leave him food about once every week. He'd be sure to tell them to double the loads if possible, because he had an apprentice that he needed to keep fed now.  
"I suggest that you rest up for now. I will call you for dinner soon. Your real training begins tomorrow."  
Orion made her way back up those harrowing stairs again and made a mental note to ask Aaravos about how to skip them at dinner.

When the training started the next day, it became clear that Aaravos was unused to having an apprentice, to say the least. He had his own schedule and actually had very little time for her. He also had very little patience with her. He hadn't exactly expected her to know much about magic, but he could hardly explain everything now, could he? The library was where Orion spent most of her time. She had many a night where she would see the sun rise in an effort to understand the Star Primal, but between Aaravos's vague choice of words, near-indecipherable handwriting and the lacking amount of information actually given, Orion got no closer to actually understanding the Primal. Her notes were about fifty percent question marks, thirty percent sentences ending in "or something..." and twenty percent terms that went unexplained but seemed important. They got the footnote: ask Aaravos later.  
She decided to read up the other Primals and see what she could make of that. She found the Sky Primal to be fairly understandable. And the Moon Primal was all about tricking the mind. Theoretics only got her so far though, and the only thing Aaravos tested her on was her Star Arcanum.  
He knew she had to have the Arcanum. She was a Startouch Elf, much like him, and she definitely had a gift for magic. Not keeping for it under control, though. Aaravos would try to make her teleport objects from one table to the other, or tell him something as simple as what the weather was going to be like in a month, and she'd take the table with her or give the weather for that time next century. Aaravos knew it was the next century because he had anticipated her to overreach and looked ahead. Either that, or she was bluffing, and it was pure coincidence that she accurately predicted an overcast sky in a hundred years’ time.

As the years went by, Orion showed talent for magic, sure, but no real control. After explanations by Aaravos and extensive studying, she understood the basis of every primal source, except the one she was brought to Aaravos for. She just could not seem to grasp the concept. Aaravos himself may just not have sufficiently explained it. To him, it came naturally. It was in his blood, in his breath and in his soul. And it had always been like that. It should have been the same for Orion, yet it wasn't. When Aaravos realised this after the first training session, he decided that the next easiest Arcenum was the Sky. She understood the concept of guiding the airflow like a wing, yet she could not do it in a controlled manner.

Aaravos's already thin patience with Orion began to thin even further. It wasn't that he was annoyed by her, per se. She would have told you otherwise, though. He just hated not making progress. Now that the initial excitement had worn off, and Orion had reverted to being on edge about her own power, she was much more difficult to teach. She didn't like to be touched anymore for some reason, which Aaravos had ignored until she nearly broke down. They had been stuck back on square one for a while now that Aaravos couldn't let her coast of his stability anymore. The breakthrough that caused her to be able to access the Sky Primal was mostly her own doing, because Aaravos felt that he had better things to do than take of a scared young woman.  
Orion didn't understand. Aaravos was always so patient with everything and everyone else, yet it seemed like Orion's very existence gave him a headache. Orion wanted to make him proud, to be validated specifically by him, but if he refused to see any progress she made, that would be difficult. She refused to give up though.

On a particularly bad day, when Aaravos had snapped at Orion for reasons utterly outside of her influence, Orion decided she had had enough. She holed herself up in the library looking for trouble in one of Aaravos's old tomes. She found what she was looking for in a particularly tricky spell that belonged to the Sun Primal. If she could pull it off, it would be sure to impress Aaravos.  
The trick lay in the breath. Orion inhaled deeply, and, holding her breath, drew the rune that accompanied the spell. "Spiritus enim meus flammea," she said. She then moved out her hand as if in a punch and released her breath with it. Which coincidentally, was also where she nearly blew herself and the tower up. She had been blown against a pillar and had broken at least a few ribs and an arm. She was lucky the fireball hadn't lasted very long, or she would have had serious burns too.  
Aaravos came running up. He was impressed alright, by the sheer stupidity that possessed her to try a stunt like this.  
"What have you done?" he asked angrily, crossing his arms before her. Orion had neither seen nor heard him though, as the explosion still ringed in her ears and her eyes were squeezed shut or she was going to throw up from too much input.  
Aaravos laid a hand on her shoulder to catch her attention, which startled her. She suppressed a pained groan while trying to connect the hand on her shoulder to one of the two Aaravos's who stood crouched before her. She gave up and let her consciousness have fun elsewhere. Aaravos thought she might have a concussion, though her horns would likely be damaged if she did. 

Aaravos levitated her inside and laid her out on a table. Her tried to a feel of what her injuries were with the east actual feeling possible. He groaned and dragged his hands across his face as he realised she had broken ribs. He could only heal by touch, and as long as the injuries were not covered by clothing, he healed them as best as he could, but he knew that he'd have to start on her ribcage soon. He realised that he rather have that be before she woke up than after. Saved him some awkward explaining. Careful to leave her dignity intact, Aaravos removed the top part of her robes, under which another layer of robe was. Why was she wearing so many layers? It was summer. Luckily, he could just move this bit up so her chest and stomach were uncovered, but her breasts were not. He silently thanked her arbitrarily layered robes and carefully healed her ribs, though not as carefully as he had healed the rest of her because he wanted to be done before she woke up.  
He scooped her up and skipped the stairs to lay her in her bed before he skipped the stairs to the kitchen and tried to make her something. He had to admit that he was not much of a cook. He was quite glad that Orion had wordlessly taken that over within the first week of staying here. He went outside through the large hole where the front door was at one point and started doing damage control. It occurred to him now that he should that he should have put Orion under a sleeping spell so he could have taken his time healing her. Whatever, he thought. The bruises and aching back will teach her not to try it again any time soon.

He was about halfway done when he saw Orion coming out the main tower's entrance. She was leaning against the newly mended doorframe catching her breath, which looked painful. She looked at Aaravos and then at the distance between the two of them. She was visibly calculating the risk/reward ratio of trying to make her way over. Aaravos didn't see what reward she could possibly be thinking of that would be worth crossing the courtyard for in her state. She didn't see it either, but she wasn't gonna go up the stairs by herself again, so much to Aaravos's amazement, she pushed herself off the wall and made her way ungracefully to Aaravos.  
"Go back," he hissed when she'd reached him.  
"No, I can help." Her voice seemed painful and she was still slightly dizzy. She reached out to lean on Aaravos but caught herself before she actually touched him.  
Aaravos took a deep breath. "Orion, you are wounded. You need rest," he explained calmly.  
"You healed me, didn't you? I'm fine," she argued weakly. "Besides," she continued. "If I can't fix my own mistakes, I won't get anywhere." Orion could barely see straight let alone stand upright. If she fell now, it would be her own fault for not listening. Aaravos sighed and resolved to just ignore her in favour of finishing the tower before dusk. Orion had either not gotten the message or was stubbornly ignoring it. She looked at Aaravos for a few seconds before closing her eyes and copying him.  
"Open your eyes when you're drawing a rune." She quickly listened and mumbled the spell that accompanied the rune.  
"Sicut enim aliquando et vos eritis."  
To Aaravos's amazement, it worked. And very well too. The whole was back to how it was before Orion's spell backfired. A good deal shinier too. Aaravos was about to give her some acknowledgement of a job well done when he heard a dull thud next to him. The spell had drained the last bit of energy Orion had had left. Aaravos sighed dramatically before picking up. The stars dotting her body shone brightly for a moment before returning to their usual soft glow.  
As he shifted her in his arms, he reminded himself to teach her how to skip the stairs sometime soon. She had very muscular legs. He skipped the stairs himself while tried to remember when he last hadn't. After going back two decades, he stopped thinking about it in shame.  
He laid Orion back on her bed and considered tying her down this time so she would actually stay in bed. He decided against and took the cold plate of nearly untouched food. Aaravos saw, much to his annoyance, that Orion had taken a single bite before deciding it was no good. Even if he wasn't a good cook by quite a way, Orion had to understand that she needed to eat something in order to regain her strength.

After a couple of hours that could best be described as five minutes of solitary study, Aaravos grew restless. Even though Orion didn't say much, she was usually in the same room as Aaravos. It seemed that it helped him concentrate to have her in his line of sight, Aaravos concluded. Must be so he could keep her from doing anything dangerous like she did this morning.  
Aaravos groaned before he gave in and took his books and scrolls to Orion's chamber, where he sat at her rather messy desk. She was still sound asleep and her freckles were glittering softly. She looked peaceful and comfortable, even though Aaravos knew she had to be in quite a bit of pain. She was laying on her back and her head hung to the left a bit, her face turned to him. Aaravos realised he wasn't concentrated at all and caught himself making an excuse to keep an eye on her. Someone had to, after all. That much had been proven.  
Orion stirred in her sleep. She opened her golden eyes and blinked in confusion when she saw where she was and that Aaravos was there too, staring at her and sunken in thought. After a moment or two, Orion opened her mouth to speak but Aaravos cut her off. "Why did you do that?" he asked.  
"Do what?"  
"You know you need to rest, and yet you try to use magic anyway."  
"The tower is fixed though, isn't it?"  
"After you nearly blew it up."  
"Nearly blew myself up too. Thanks for healing me," Orion avoided meeting Aaravos's eyes. "Though I think you missed a few spots," she groaned.  
"I left the cuts and bruises to heal on their own." The way Aaravos said it made Orion believe he had done that deliberately, when in fact, he had been panicking, which, in Orion's defence, she was not aware was a thing Aaravos could do. Prior to taking Orion, Aaravos would have agreed.  
"Will they heal better that way?"  
"Certainly not, I didn't bandage or clean them either, so they might get infected if you don't do that soon. I just thought it was an excellent opportunity for you to learn never to do that again."  
"It was a simple firebreath spell. I don't see what went wrong." 

Aaravos's own firebreath spell? Simple? The nerve.

"I don't see why of all spells; you chose one that could be dangerous if uncontrolled. You must have known you couldn't control it."  
Orion didn't answer straight away. Aaravos's remark cut deeper than she cared to admit, but she knew it was true. Like a child, she turned her back to Aaravos and played half-heartedly with a few strands of loose hair. "I just wanted you to see that I have made progress," she said so quietly that Aaravos barely heard it.  
"I know you're making progress, gradually. But you won't make me proud by putting yourself in danger." Aaravos was almost shocked at how sad Orion sounded. She didn't exactly radiate happiness most of the time, but when Aaravos said something cutting, she usually had a cutting remark or two of her own. This depressing demeanour was not her at all.


End file.
